Wednesday, March 12, 2014

When an ILEC Whines

So the CEO at Cincinnati Bell has his panties in a bunch because CinBell isn't getting enough credit for its fiber projects. The Cincinnati City Council voted to invite Google Fiber into town. The CEO thinks that the City Council doesn't know what the ILEC has been up to.

"Since 2010, Cincinnati Bell has invested $269 million in fiber construction, installation and value-added services. In 2014, we will invest more than $80 million. Today, our fiber network spans approximately 5,700 route miles – reaching more than 7,000 businesses and more than 276,000 households."

In some respects, the CinBell CEO sounds like he is a small ISP providing rural broadband that is about to be over-built with federal dollars by the LEC. Ironic isn't it?

It points to a couple of things:

  • CinBell spent so much time on the data center and cloud business leading up to its 2013 spin off of Cyrus One that it didn't do enough PR on the fiber broadband front.
  • Second, it seems every community wants to be a Google Fiberhood.
  • Third, he beats the local bell loud - jobs, community, charity, investment.

Thought you might enjoy that. Plus it's a reminder to do some PR when building fiber and to beat your own Local drum. Learn from a billion dollar LEC.

BTW, CinBell is making $100 million per year on fiber Gigabit broadband.

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